KOTES AND QUE HIES. 
109 
hill give also, in my humble opinion, evidence of the existence, at one 
time, of a large mass of ice. The following sketch shows the strange 
manner in which granite can be smoothed and polished by natural causes. 
I'he sketch represents a granite boulder found several feet under the sur- 
face in the immediate neighbourhood of Jordanhill House, where it now 
lies not far from the garden-wall. The questions. What kind of force 
rounded this piece of granite. Does the fact tkat a portion of it — the vein 
almost in the centre — has not been removed, prove the said force to be ice ? 
are questions not easily answered. 
The vein of quartz, a a, has been left un- 
touched by the force tliat has removed the granite 
originally on a level with it, h b ; the force that 
has done this appears therefore to have been too 
weak to cut the vein of quartz. A stronger force 
may liave previously cut the vein, or, what is more 
likely, the force that was polishing this travelled 
boulder, has sent it into a groove or furrow, 
^hich has prevented the vein of quartz from being lessened so quickly as 
the granite on each side of it. 
I am inclmed to imagine that this boulder and other similarly scratched 
boulders, brought to the surface in this neighbourhood, proves the exist- 
ence of stones carried along upon ice, called in Switzerland the "moraines" 
of the glacier. Sir C. Lyell asserts that " all sand and fragments of soft 
stone which fall through fissures and reach the bottom of the glaciers, or 
which are interposed between the glacier and the steep sides of the valley, 
are pushed along, and ground down into mud, while the larger and harder 
fragments have their angles worn ofi." This quotation is taken from the 
last edition of the ' Principles of Geology.' — P. S. Whitelnch, Glasr/oio. 
Permanency of Vegetable Organisms. — The powder of a brick 
found on the site of the ancient Egyptian town of Eileithyi^, examined 
under the nncroscope, proved to contain several fragments of animal and 
vegetable remains, among which those of eight species of plants were still 
in a state fit for specific determination. These eight species are in no way 
difl^erent from those at present growing and cultivated in Egypt and Nubia ; 
a proof that a period of 3500 to 4000 years (the probable age of the brick 
under examination) has passed away, without any notable change taking 
place in the climate and vegetation of Egypt. More extensive examina- 
tions of similar materials may be expected to throw new light on the former 
flora of this seat of ancient culture. — Prof. Unger, Imp. Acad, of Science, 
Vienna, Jan. 9th, 1862. 
Earthquake Phenomena. — Dear Sir, — It is with some reluctance I 
venture to trouble you with an inquiry, but I know of no other from whom 
I could expect a reply which would be of equal value to me. 
1. Suppose the direction of earthquake undulation were from east to 
west, would there be any probability of a valley or deep chasm being 
formed at right angles with the direction of the earthquake, i.e. from north 
to south ? 
2. Would it be probable that earthquake waves would run parallel with 
the mountain systems with which they were associated ? 
3. Suppose an earthquake to emanate from a given point, would there 
be a probability of its undulation extending in opposite directions from 
that point? — Subscriber. 
1. Earthquake undulations (i.e. shocks) are incapable of forming valleys 
or deep chasms, by their direct action, at all. 
Whatever chasms or fissures are produced are due to " secondary ac- 
